Value Added Batting Data 1980 to 1998

by Tom Ruane

Over on SABR-L, I've been writing for some time about using the value added approach to evaluating hitting, stolen bases and pitching. This approach was originally developed by Gary R. Skoog in an article called MEASURING RUNS CREATED: THE VALUE ADDED APPROACH in The 1987 Bill James Baseball Abstract and uses Expected Future Runs tables to evaluate how much a batter, base-runner or pitcher helped or hurt his team. Expected Future Runs tables contain the average number of runs a team scores from each of the 24 game situations, with outs going from 0 to 2 outs and the bases going from empty to run. Here's a sample table for the 1996 AL:

Using these tables, we determine the value of each play to be equal to:

ending-value + runs-scored-on-play - starting-value

So a two-out grand-slam home runs would be worth:

.128 + 4 - .907=3.221 runs

While a strikeout in the same situation would have a value of:

0 - .907=-.907 runs

The data accompanying this article has value added data for each batter from 1980 to 1997. Here's a sample entry (because of the wide lines, I've broken it into two parts, the right and left side):

Name               Year  Team   AB    H  2B  3B  HR   BB  SF GDP HBP ROE
Thomas,Frank       1990 CHI A  191   63  11   3   7   44   3   5   2   1
Thomas,Frank       1991 CHI A  559  178  31   2  32  138   2  20   1   7
Thomas,Frank       1992 CHI A  573  185  46   2  24  122  11  19   5   4
Thomas,Frank       1993 CHI A  549  174  36   0  41  112  13  10   2   6
Thomas,Frank       1994 CHI A  399  141  34   1  38  109   7  15   2   4
Thomas,Frank       1995 CHI A  493  152  27   0  40  136  12  14   6   3
Thomas,Frank       1996 CHI A  527  184  26   0  40  109   8  25   5   2
Thomas,Frank       1997 CHI A  530  184  35   0  35  109   7  15   3   6
Thomas,Frank       1998 CHI A  585  155  35   2  29  110  11  14   6   8
Thomas,Frank            Total 4406 1416 281  10 286  989  74 137  32  41

   SB  CS OUTS   VABR   BPF  A/BPF  A/POS VASBR  VAMR  VATOT  TOT/P  EPCT
    0   1  136   21.0 1.019   20.1   15.8  -0.2   0.1   19.9   15.6  .008
    1   2  404   59.4 1.007   58.4   49.5  -1.2   2.3   57.2   48.3  .018
    6   3  419   60.3  .953   67.2   55.5  -0.5   2.0   66.7   55.0  .010
    4   2  399   66.3 1.013   64.4   45.4   0.0   1.5   64.4   45.4  .015
    2   3  281   63.2  .970   67.2   51.6  -0.8   1.2   66.4   50.8  .015
    3   2  367   51.5  .964   56.5   36.5  -0.6   1.2   55.9   35.9  .008
    1   1  380   60.6  .933   71.2   53.9   0.0   1.5   71.2   53.9  .006
    1   1  368   72.3  .960   79.0   60.8   0.3   1.8   79.3   61.1  .008
    7   0  455   29.6 1.019   27.4   14.3   1.2   2.3   28.6   15.5  .009
   25  15 3209  484.2  .980  511.4  383.3  -1.8  13.9  509.6  381.5  .011

The non-obvious categories:
ROE   -- reached on errors.
OUTS  -- the outs used up by the batter both at the plate and on the
         basepaths.  He is charged with all outs that are made on
         balls he puts into play (as well as a single out for each
         strikeout).  For example, if he lines into a double-play, he
         is charged with two outs, while if he reaches on an error,
         no out is charged.  He is also charged an out for each
         caught stealing or pick-off.
VABR  -- unadjusted value-added batting runs.  This is the sum of the
         values of each batting play (where the batter either puts the
         ball into play or strikes out).
BPF   -- ball-park factor.  These factors are computed for each batter
         using the number of plate appearances he had in each park.
A/BPF -- VABR adjusted by the ball-park factor.
A/POS -- A/BPF adjusted for the defensive position played.  Basically,
         I determined the average value of a play by batters at each
         defensive position and determined how many runs above or below
         average each player was among those at his position.
VASBR -- value-added stolen base runs.  This is the sum of the values
         of each running play for which the player was the lead runner.
         Running plays are stolen bases, caught stealing, pick-offs,
         errors attempting pickoffs and balks.
VAMR  -- value-added miscellaneous runs.  This is the sum of the values
         of wild pitches or passed balls that occurred while the player
         was the lead runner.
VATOT -- A/BPF plus VASBR.
TOT/P -- A/POS plus VASBR.
EPCT  -- ROE divided by AB + SF - H.
 

Downloading the data files

You can either download the data as plain text or as a comma separated value (csv) file. The text files are broken down by last name.

The files are encoded into compressed "zip" files. If you do not have a compression program, here's where you can download one.

    
 vab.zip Text - Players A-B (87 Kb)    
 vce.zip Text - Players C-E (82 Kb)    
 vfg.zip Text - Players F-G (59 Kb)    
 vhi.zip Text - Players H-I (48 Kb)    
 vjl.zip Text - Players J-L (71 Kb)    
 vmo.zip Text - Players M-O (90 Kb)    
 pr.zip Text - Players P-R (75 Kb)    
 vs.zip  Text - Players V-S (61 Kb)    
 vtz.zip Text - Players T-Z (81 Kb)    

The csv file can easily be imported into any database program and contains data for all players.

 VAR-csv.zip CSV - All Players (472 Kb)

Comments or Suggestions

Thanks for visiting the BasebaLL Think Factory. For information about contributing, to make a comment or suggestion, or to report a problem at my WWW site, please complete my Feedback Form. If your browser does not support forms, send e-mail to webguru@baseballstuff.com.

Original material Copyright © 1996-1999 BasebaLL Think Factory
This page updated June 3, 1998.

Back to the top of page | Baseball Scholars | Baseball Think Factory | BaseballStuff.com